Preparing for a career during high school and college
What you do during high school and college will substantially impact your career prospects.
People's career plans frequently change
A crucial point to keep in mind is that people's career plans often change, so that rather than focusing on preparing for one career exclusively, you should try to keep your options open.
- People frequently change college majors. The available statistics don't paint a completely cohesive picture, but estimates a NY Times article 1, 2, 3, 4 for various populations range from 40% to 80%.
- Many people don't use their college major in their job. According to the US Bureau of the Census, only 27.5% of people have a job that's strictly related to their choice of college major. Not using your college major in your job doesn't necessarily indicate a career change — some people never intend to use their college major in their job, but it's still evidence that career change is not uncommon. Note that some of the 27.3% who do use their college major may also have changed careers.
- Many pre-medical students don't go to medical school. The overall acceptance rate to medical school for applicants between 2008 and 2010 was [45.2%](https://www.aamc.org/download/157450/data/table24-mcatgpagridall2008-10.pdf.pdf).
- Many people with law degrees don't become lawyers or judges. In 2012, only 28% of recent law graduates were underemployed 9 months after graduation. It could be that they'll become lawyers later on, but the data is still suggestive.
Using internships to experiment
Internships